I was so excited about my first trip to Pho Boy a few weeks ago, that I went again and brought someone in tow. This time my "choose my own" pho had chicken and mushrooms as my toppings (you can get up to three), and I asked for chicken broth and all of the garnishes. My regular-sized bowl had a lot of chicken, but it was shredded so a lot of it settled at the bottom, only for me to retrieve it at the end of my meal. As well, I am almost positive I actually got the beef broth - it was far too dark to have been chicken. My lunch date was not happy with the amount of beef in his large bowl and found the broth to be bland. We also tried the green onion cakes. We enjoyed these, and loved the hot sauce/plum sauce combination that was served on the side. Because I did like my soup despite the wrong broth, I am willing to give this place another chance, but my lunch date is not.

I was in a vegan frame of mind a couple of weekends ago, so headed for The Buckingham, as I was on Whyte Avenue enjoying live music. I like the place - it has a good vibe, and the fact that half the menu is vegan sets it apart from the other pubs in the area. I had the chicken and waffles. The "chicken" had a good texture and crispy coating, but I did not like the hot sauce poured all over the waffles. Hot sauce and waffles do not mix. I had to keep adding maple syrup to temper the heat and flavour, and it just got very messy and unappealing. In general, I don't like food that is heavily sauced, but this was really too much. When I return, I will definitely try something else.

The Needle Vinyal Cafe has a weekend brunch featuring a special menu and musical performers. I dropped by a couple of weekends ago and had the vegan bowl, which is a tofu "egg" scramble with red peppers and jalapenos over breakfast potatoes. I held the jalapenos, and am glad I did. I find The Needle's food to be rather spicy, and there was more than enough kick without that ingredient. The plentiful tofu had a curry flavour, and the potatoes, which was an extremely generous portion, were hand-cut and well-seasoned. Overall, this was a very filling brunch item that is ideal for vegans.